Page:Dictionary of National Biography, Second Supplement, volume 2.djvu/133

 secretary, each representing his own party in the cabinet and the Assembly.

The period of the Gillies-Deakin ministry was marked by great social and political activity. The revenue and expenditure of the colony increased to an unprecedented degree, whilst railways were extended in all directions. Useful legislation was promoted, of which the most important was the Irrigation Act of 1886 with its numerous off-shoots, but the government before its term of office ended had to contend with acute labour troubles, culminating in disastrous strikes. In 1887 Gillies declined the honour of K.C.M.G.

At the general election of March 1889 Gillies was returned for the Eastern Suburbs of Melbourne, and the government's power seemed unimpaired, though there were signs of coming difficulty. The first session passed without disaster, but in the second session a direct vote of want of confidence was carried on 30 Oct. 1890, by 55 votes to 35. Gillies resigned on 5 Nov. and led the opposition to the Munro and Shiels governments. Gillies was a consistent supporter of the cause of Australian federation. He represented Victoria at several intercolonial conferences as well as in the second and third sessions of the federal council of Australasia. He presided at the federal conference held in Melbourne in Feb. 1890, and was one of the representatives of Victoria at the national Australasian convention which met in Sydney in March and April 1891.

From 6 Jan. 1894 to 5 Jan. 1897 Gillies was agent-general for the colony in London. Returning to Melbourne, he again entered Parliament (14 Oct. 1897) as member for Toorak, and was re-elected in 1900. On 14 Oct. 1902 he was unanimously chosen as speaker of the House of Assembly. But failing health hampered the performance of his duties. He died of heart failure on 12 Sept. 1903 in the Speaker's apartments at the State Parliament House, and was buried in Melbourne general cemetery.

Gillies lacked many of the qualities of a popular leader. Even among his political supporters his general demeanour was somewhat cold and unsympathetic, but he gained respect by his conspicuous fairness and magnanimity. His speeches were models of clearness and force. He proved himself a powerful leader of the house, and in that capacity displayed tact and resource.

A portrait of Gillies in oils, three-quarter length, by Tennyson Cole, is in the National Gallery of Victoria at Melbourne.

 GIROUARD, DÉSIRÉ (1836–1911), Canadian judge, born at St. Timothy, co. Beauhamois, Province of Quebec, on 7 July 1836, was son of Jérémie Girouard by his wife Hippolite Piccard. He was descended on the father's side from Antoine Girouard, private secretary to De Ramezay, governor of Montreal in 1720. After attending the Montreal College he took the law course at McGill university, obtaining the first prize three years consecutively, and graduating B.C.L. in 1860, D.C.L. in 1874; he was also LL.D. of Ottawa University. He was called to the bar of Lower Canada in October 1860, and was appointed Q.C. in October 1880. He attained great distinction at the bar, especially in commercial cases, and was a well-known writer on legal and international questions. In 1860, before he was called, he published a useful treatise in French on bills of exchange. He also wrote on the civil laws of marriage and on the Insolvent Act. He was one of the chief collaborators in 'La Revue Critique,' which in 1873-4 gave expression to the dissatisfaction of the Montreal bar with the then existing Quebec court of appeals and led to the reconstitution of that court in 1874. He first stood for the Canadian Parliament in 1872, but was not successful till 1878, when he became conservative member for the constituency of Jacques Cartier, and held the seat for seventeen years, until the close of his political career. In Parliament, where he proved a good debater, he carried in 1882 a bill legalising marriage with a deceased wife's sister. Later, in 1885, with some other conservative French-Canadian members, he opposed the government on the subject of the execution of [q. v.]. He was chairman of the standing committee on privileges and elections, presiding in one well-known case—the Langevin-McGreevy case—over 104 sittings. He was offered a seat in the dominion cabinet, but preferred a judgeship, and was appointed in September 1895 to the bench of the supreme court of Canada. He was senior puisne judge when he died at Ottawa from a carriage accident on 22 March 1911. 